Anyone still not convinced that a defendant can get a fair jury trial in the United States? Defendant Casey Anthony’s baby was found brutally dead, duct tape over her face, the stench of her corpse in the trunk of her mother’s car, her mother not reporting her baby missing for a month and partying to boot. The State accused her of killing her baby. The jury acquitted her.
Why? Because the prosecutor could not prove that the baby was murdered. The mother’s partying was reprehensible but did not prove murder. The Jurors were told the prosecutors had to prove the child was murdered. The jurors believed the prosecutors had not and following the Court’s instructions to the letter, as jurors generally do, they acquitted Casey Anthony.
Now before everyone lines up to go to trial, know this: missing evidence is not unreliable evidence. Missing evidence is fatal. Unreliable evidence is, well, unreliable. It may or may not be believed, but it is evidence. So before you get scared to death about what jurors will do, think about this case. Going to trial is not as bad as you think. You ought to know that even in a drug case where you make the government prove your guilty as is your right to do, you are still eligible for “safety valve” relief which removes the mandatory sentencing minimum of five or ten years depending on your charge. “Safety valve” eligibility can come anytime before sentencing and that includes after conviction. You get the right judge, you could be in good shape even if you are convicted.
David Zapp